Mail-box-elevating apparatus.



'1. o. BROWNE.

' MAIL BOX ELEVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15. I914.

Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

[E ELTE! INVENTOR, J D. Ema/7w,

WITNESSES.- W i? [1 ,0 WA

ATTORNEY.

JOHN D. BROWNE, 0F SPRINGrliIlfIil'), MASSACHUSETTS.

MAIL-BOX-ELEVATING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug, 3,1915.

Application filed August 15, 1914. Serial No. 856,887.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN D. BRowNn, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Springfield, in the county of I-Iampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Box-El'evating Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for the elevation of mail boxes from the corridor or street floor of an apartment building to floors thereabove for convenience of the tenant. I

The invention is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and is set forth in the claims.

In the drawings :-Figure 1 is a front elevation, somewhat in the nature of a diagram, indicating the general arrangement of installation of the apparatus; Fig. 2 is a front elevation on a somewhat larger scale, showing the principal novel features; Figs. 3 and i are transverse sectional views taken respectively on lines 33 and 4t of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, A represents by dotted lines a chute or well leading from the corridor vertically to a floor above, such chutes being multiplied for different floors or apartments thereon. Suitably located on the wall in the hallway or vestibule of a given floor is a motor B having a shaft C 011 which is a clutch member I); and on the motor shaft is a winding spool E which is slidable endwise along the shaft and provided with a clutch member F which is cooperative with the motor shaft clutch member D. The spool is provided with an elongated hub Gr having an annular groove a therein, in which groove a collar J is engaged, which collar is provided with a forwardly extending arm Z) and with a vertical rigid extension cl, located in the line of the chute which latter at its upper end is open, at its front, so that the mail box when elevated is accessible.

Upon the frame or bracket in which the motor and the spool are mounted is a lug M having a notch f in which the arm 6 of the collar has a latching or locking engagement to hold the spool in clutch with the motor. With the collar or suitable extensions thereof springs g g are connected, the stress of which is such as to draw the spool endwise out of clutch with the motor for the discontinuance of the winding action and the elevationof'the mail box after the same shall ment is raised and permitted to be lowered.

When the mail box reaches its proper,

height on a given floor so that the contents placed therein by the letter carrier in the corridor or ground floor is accessible to a tenant occupying a given upper floor, the abutment 7c thereon strikes the extension (5 of the collar arm 6, swinging the latter out from lts locking engagement in the notch f of the lug M, whereupon the springs become effective for drawing the spool out of clutch with the motor shaft for terminating the further winding and elevation.

The spool has a ratchet wheel 79 thereon with which a pawl or click Q engages;- this provision preventing the mail box from descending by gravity after the discontlnuance of the elevating rotation of the spool. l/Vith the other end flange of the spool a pivoted brake member R coacts, the same being pivoted at m and held normally free from its braking engagement by the s ring a which holds the brake from frictional engagement with the rim of the flange comprised in the clutch member F and against the stop t. The brake member has its location such that it may coact, by being manually forced, against the flange, like clutch member F when the latter is out of clutch.

After the elevation of the box and the withdrawal of the contents thereof, the pawl may be manually disengaged, leaving the box free todescend to the ground floor 1n proper place to receive further mail deliverable thereinto by the letter carrier.

As manifest, the descent of the mail box may be checked or regulated by the person letting it down through the operation of the brake.

I claim 1 In an apparatus of the character descrlbed, in combination with a vertical chute, a motor having a shaft, provided with a clutch member, a winding spool slidable on the shaft having a clutch member, means exerting a stress to draw the spool out of clutch, a hub on the spool provided with an annular groove, a collar engaged in the groove and pro-vided with an arm made with an extension, a bracket proscribed, in combination with a vertical chute, a motor having a shaft provided with a clutch member, a winding spool slidably movable on the shaft, provided with a flange-like clutch member, to coact with the motor shaft clutch member, said spool being also provided with a ratchet wheel and having a hub made with an annular groove, a collar engaged in the groove of the hub adapted to swing and also to bodily move with the spool, a stationary lug having a notch therein in which the collar extension has a latching engagement, a mail box to move in the chute having a flexible connection in winding engagement with the spool, and adapted to throw the extension of the collar out of engagement with said notched lug, spring means for drawing the spool when released out of clutch, a pawl coacting with the said ratchet wheel, and a brake adapted to coact with the flange-like clutch member of the spool.

Signed by me at Springfield, Mass, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN D. BROWNE.

Witnesses: t

ALLEN MACDONALD, WM. S. BELLOWS.

(Yopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

